Dirty Blood Boxed Set, Includes, page 122
“So?”
She didn’t answer for a moment. “And Victoria is going to help you track them out of the kindness of her little heart?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Huh. Didn’t know she had a heart.”
“Cam.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do it.”
“Really?”
“Really. And when Edie catches on to what I’ve done, you’ll be the one I drag off the edge of the cliff with me.”
“Deal. Thelma and Louise. All the way.”
“Sometimes, Tara Godfrey, you are way too willing to die.”
Chapter Thirteen
“In there.” Victoria pointed across the street.
I followed the track of her finger and stared. “Are you sure? The sign says it’s a meat factory.”
Victoria lifted a brow in answer.
“Makes sense to me,” George said.
“Ugh. Bad joke,” I said.
Wes punched him lightly in the shoulder.
They guys had been awfully chummy these last three days on the road. I’d tried more than once to get close and hear what sort of conversation needed to be hushed and private on a bus packed with five other people, but they always shut up when I came around. I’d even used George to eavesdrop unknowingly once when I sent him back to ask the boys what they wanted for dinner. But all I’d picked up was the word “metal” and “fatal” from Logan. I assumed Wes must be getting his advice on how best to kill whatever stood in our way upon arrival. Assuming that obstacle wasn’t someone from our own camp.
We’d yet to hear from Grandma. Or Jack and Fee. As far as I knew, they thought we were still in Colorado, locked up tight in an invisible house in the woods.
Cambria had called me with the bypass phrase: Vade Mecum. According to Logan, it meant “go with me” in Latin. The message of it—that Grandma never intended for me to leave that place without her—wasn’t lost on me.
Nor did it deter me.
We’d left that night. Logan, Victoria, and Astor all thought Grandma had been the one to supply the bypass phrase. George—and I suspected Wes though he hadn’t brought it up—knew the truth. Emma seemed like she didn’t care either way, as long as both George and I stayed close.
She was still jumpy, prone to periods of restlessness and pacing, although I wondered if that was her body’s way of coping with being human after holding onto her wolf form so long. She was quiet, and while she tolerated Astor’s questions, she lit up when George sought her out.
We’d taken shifts, alternating between sleeping and driving, and had only stopped for gas and food across five states. Despite the fact that we were all exhausted, we were happy to be here. And hoping like hell Victoria’s tracking skills were right.
I looked again at the building Victoria had pointed to. It was long and narrow with a flat roof. Nondescript except for the red-and-black sign that advertised it as headquarters to a packing and shipping plant for meat. I sniffed and let my wolf senses expand. Ugh. Raw cow to be exact.
And I knew one thing: if my pack was in there, I was getting them out.
“All right, let’s stash this thing somewhere and see if we can get closer,” I said.
Everyone stared at me.
“What?” I said.
Wes shook his head. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yeah …?”
“You want to what? Knock on the front door and ask to see your pack?”
“No, I …” I trailed off. Nothing I could’ve said would make me look anything other than reckless. “What’s your plan?”
Wes looked at Astor. “Him.”
“What about him?” I asked.
“He can knock on the front door and ask if the hybrids can play.”
I stared at him. “What? How does that help?”
“Because he can play crazy long enough to give us the time we need to get in.”
“He can play crazy longer than that,” George muttered.
“A distraction,” I said, deadpan. “You want Astor to be the distraction.”
“It beats dangling yourself out there where you know Steppe is watching.”
“Steppe knows Astor.”
“But he doesn’t know Astor knows you,” Georgepointed out.
“He knows we’re related,” I told him. “And that we’re on the run from him. He’s not an idiot.”
“I’m counting on that,” Wes interrupted. We both looked at him. “Steppe will know something’s up no matter what. At least with Astor, it takes a few minutes to sift through the crazy to get to the sane.”
I chewed my lip, hating the idea of putting my helpless, albeit crazy, uncle in harm’s way.
“He makes a point,” George said. I eyed him, realizing he hadn’t said it was a good point. “Why don’t we ask him? Astor,” he called before I could argue.
“What now?” Astor shuffled up to the front with a frown. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Wes said. “But I have a favor to ask.”
“What sort of favor?”
“That building over there,” Wes said, pointing, “is where Steppe is keeping the hybrids. We need you to create a diversion at the front so we can get in.”
“A diversion,” Astor repeated.
“Yes. Can you do that?”
“How big of a diversion?” he asked.
“Big.”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his palms on the front of his pants and rolled his neck side to side.
I took a step back for reasons I couldn’t name.
“You mean like this?” Before any of us could answer, he shifted.
I’d never seen anything like it. It wasn’t a complete change—more of a halfway-there-Wolfman-Jack-thing.
His form shimmered but not just at the edges. He shivered and shook all over, going in and out of focus. When he solidified, he still stood on two legs but they’d become knobby and hairy. His clothes were still on, stretched to the limits over his bulging arms and thighs. All I saw was coarse fur and gnarled ankles where his pants had ridden up. His arms were shorter and his fingers longer; nothing but massive knuckles and claws.
His face was the worst. Somehow, it retained its human-like appearance, complete with a mop of white hair on top, but his cheeks and chin were covered in fine hairs that thickened into a full beard on the lower half.
He looked like he’d stepped out of an ’80s horror flick.
“Arghhhhhhh!” he yelled, bending low to growl in George’s face.
George’s expression remained deadpan. When Astor finally quieted, George looked from Wes to me to Logan. “He’s like Teen Wolf meets Doc Brown from Back to the Future.”
“But did I scare you?” Astor asked.
“Um.”
It was all I could do not to laugh.
“How do you … I mean, you look so …” Victoria gestured to him. I could only imagine what sort of insult she had ready.
“Different,” I finished. We couldn’t afford to offend Astor right now. We needed him. I shot Victoria a look that would hopefully shut her up. “How do you do it?” I added.
“Years’ worth of practice,” he said proudly.
George eyed him skeptically. “So, you did it on purpose?”
“Absolutely. It’s the best of both. Two legs. Opposable thumbs. Scares the mess out of those damned Jehovah’s Witness bastards.”
Wes chuckled.
“So. What do you think?” Astor asked, his eyes alight. “I can try it again if you want.”
Astor’s chest puffed up as he sucked in another deep breath.
“It’ll work,” Wes said quickly. He patted Astor on the arm. “It’ll work.”
***
The only way to get Astor to shift back while we waited for nightfall was to take him for a Slurpee. He said it was the one thing he missed about civilization. I thought he might also have missed the memo on not wearing socks with sandals but I didn’t say so. I had my own agenda for passing the time.
George held the door for us all to file into the convenience store. I went last. He caught my arm before I could get past him. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s a bad idea,” he said.
I met his stare and yanked my arm away. “Those are the only kind I have.”
I wandered along the first aisle I came to. I didn’t really want anything and my concentration was on how to approach Wes with what I wanted. I’d already thought about sneaking off but rejected the idea. Even I knew better than to wander off alone in the DC metro area. This was Steppe’s territory. I had to be careful. Didn’t mean I couldn’t get what I wanted, as long as I could convince my boyfriend.
“He’s not going to go for it,” George said in my ear.
I jumped and swatted him but he danced out of reach. “Get out of my head,” I hissed.
I glanced at where the others were gathered around the frozen drink machines. Wes was helping Astor fit a lid on his cup. Victoria and Logan stood shoulder to shoulder, trying to decide on flavors. Emma—
“Where’s Emma?” I asked.
“Bathroom.”
“Oh.” I relaxed. What a great alpha. I couldn’t even lead a pack of one.
Wes finished with Astor and joined George and me by the window. He inspected the merchandise displayed and gave me a strange look. “Why are you looking at skullcaps?”
I stared blankly at where he pointed until I realized I stood in front of a large display of bandannas and neckerchiefs with an array of designs ranging from flames to skull-and-crossbones.
“Are we starting a biker gang and no one told me?” When I failed to react, his smile dimmed. He came closer, his nose almost touching mine. “What’s wrong?”
I caught myself twisting my hands together and let them fall to my sides. “Um, okay, so you know how Astor’s one request was that he be allowed to have a Slurpee?”
“Yeah.”
“Since, you know, it’d been so long since he’d had one.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And he really missed it and needed that before he could move forward with the plan.”
“Is this going somewhere?”
“And really, if he hadn’t gotten the Slurpee, who knows if he would’ve been able to focus on the plan later so—”
“You want to see Alex.”
“Bingo,” George called loudly. The cashier stared.
“Tara—” Wes began.
“George wants to see him too,” I blurted.
“I do?” Even George looked surprised. I resisted the urge to wrap my hands around his throat.
“Yes,” I said.
“How do you know?” Wes asked.
“I read it in his mind. A few days ago, when I first told you he woke up. You were mad at me for wanting to leave, remember?”
George’s head cocked sideways while he thought it over. “Huh. Okay, maybe the thought crossed my mind. But obviously not for the reasons you do,” he said. “I want answers.”
“So do I.”
Wes and George both rolled their eyes. I pretended not to notice.
“I’m not asking to go alone. And I’m not sneaking away or doing anything stupid. I’m asking for everyone to agree,” I said.
Victoria walked up. “Agree on what?” she asked around the straw in her mouth.
“Tara wants to go see Alex,” Wes told Victoria.
Astor and Emma joined us, both sucking their icy-sugary concoction from neon green straws.
“So does George,” I added.
Victoria shrugged. “Let’s go.”
“We can’t exactly walk into the hospital,” Wes said.
“Maybe you can’t,” she said. “I can go where I want.”
I stared at her. “She has a point.”
Wes sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “What are you thinking?”
“The simplest solution is often the best. My mother used to say that to me,” Victoria said.
“What does that mean?” George asked with Emma’s drink halfway to his lips.
“Well. Can he walk?” Victoria asked.
“Uh. Guys?” Emma cut in. “Should we maybe discuss this somewhere else?” She pointed to a flyer taped to the window behind me and we all turned to look.
“That’s a horrible picture of you,” George told Wes.
“Shut up,” Wes said. We all eyed the desk clerk, who was obliviously ringing up a customer for lottery tickets. Wes turned to Logan. “Give me your hat.”
“So you know, this is my favorite hat,” Logan said, reluctantly handing it over.
Wes took it and shoved it on his head. “If it gets ruined being on my head, we have bigger problems than your hat.”
***
The late afternoon sun slanted across the grass where it spilled over the corner of the hospital’s roof across the road. We couldn’t wait until daylight disappeared entirely. Darkness was for the hybrids. The rescue. According to George and Wes, this was nothing more than recon. And I suspected they didn’t much care if Alex got caught.
While we waited for Logan and Victoria to appear with the patient, we wandered the park across the street. The very public park. Emma and I had claimed an abandoned playground. Wes was not far behind us on a bench with George. The chasm had reopened between us, an old scab torn open again. It hadn’t been there since we’d left Virginia. And Alex.
I climbed onto the monkey bars and sat atop them, letting my feet dangle loosely below. Emma followed at my heels, quiet inside and out.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked her.
She looked up at me, startled. “You don’t know?”
I smiled. “I’d like to hear you talk.”
“Oh. Um.” She picked at the ends of her hair and looked away. I’d given up on her answering at all when she finally said, “You and George used to date, huh?”
“Yes,” I said. “Why?”
A couple of dog walkers passed by, their smiles polite and small, but otherwise we barely got a second look. Even Astor, walking slow circles around our mulch enclosure while he whispered to himself, drew hardly any attention. Maybe it was because of the crowd.
The best place to hide is plain sight.
Where had that come from? I found George sitting on a bench, listening to Wes, but he was watching Emma. And his thoughts were centered completely on her.
“Well,” Emma said, bringing me out of my thoughts. The way she drew out the word, I didn’t need a bond to tell me where this was going. “Would it be weird if— I mean, I know you guys used to be, you know …”
I couldn’t take the stumbling or stuttering any longer. I reached out and put my hand on her knee. She smiled sheepishly, her cheeks reddening.
“Em, George and I are just friends. And as long as he doesn’t keep eavesdropping on this conversation …” I paused and sent George a pointed look. He ducked his head and went back to talking to Wes. “We will remain friends. But that’s it for both of us, trust me.”
“Really? Because if you’re not sure or if it’s weird …”
“It’s not weird,” I said firmly. “And I can tell he likes you so stop worrying.”
She smiled, transforming her face from shy and quiet to radiant. “You think so? I mean, did you, you know, read that?”
I laughed. “You’ve both got it bad. Trust me, mutually bad. Go talk to him.”
She glanced over her shoulder where Wes and George still huddled on the bench. “Now?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. There’s all this stuff going on. Dangerous rescue missions and sneaky meetings in the park. Maybe I should wait for when things are calmer.”
“Sweetheart. I can promise if you stick with me, things will never be calmer. And we aren’t promised tomorrow. You should tell him now. In the present. Live this moment.”
Her eyes clouded with unshed tears and I realized too late what my words had done. We shared a mental image of Janie between us before it faded away again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean …”
“It’s okay,” she said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. “You’re right. We aren’t promised tomorrow. I need to seize the day and all that.” She sniffed once. “Janie was better at this sort of thing than me.”
“What?”
“Spontaneous decisions. Proclamations of love.”
I smiled. “She would tell you to do it.”
Emma nodded.
“I think that means you have to.”
I watched as George rose from the bench and made his way toward us. He didn’t pay me a single bit of attention. His eyes were so fixed on Emma, he almost tripped over the wood-trimmed border. Emma giggled.
“Hey,” George said.
“Hey,” Emma said.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to talk to Wes.” I don’t think either one heard me.
Astor stopped me before I could reach the bench. “You know she’ll have your hide for this.”
“What? Who?” I looked back at Emma, but she was intent on whatever George was saying.
Astor wagged his finger in my face. “You know exactly. Edie, that’s who.”
The entire trip, I’d waited for him to press me about Grandma’s willingness to let us leave, but he hadn’t said a single word about it. Until now. “Astor. Do you know something I don’t know?”
“I know lots of things. Like the fact that your boyfriend over there is afraid to be tested, afraid he won’t be like you. And he isn’t.”
“Isn’t what?”
“Like you.”
“He’s not immune? How do you know?”
He shrugged again and tilted his head as if he couldn’t care less.
“What else do you know, Astor?”
“Your jock-friend is better at this than you are.”
“Better at what?”
He walked away, resuming his circle around the playground. I moved to follow, determined to make him tell me what he meant, but Wes called my name.
“Tara. They’re here.” His voice was nothing more than a raised whisper, but it sent a flood of nerves through me and I had to force my muscles to work.
I turned around slowly.
The sun dipped completely behind the hospital, casting the three bodies into full shadow. They were nothing more than silhouettes as they stepped off the crosswalk and entered the park. But I didn’t need to see faces or even hear their voices to know which one was Alex. I recognized him by the way he moved.
She didn’t answer for a moment. “And Victoria is going to help you track them out of the kindness of her little heart?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Huh. Didn’t know she had a heart.”
“Cam.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do it.”
“Really?”
“Really. And when Edie catches on to what I’ve done, you’ll be the one I drag off the edge of the cliff with me.”
“Deal. Thelma and Louise. All the way.”
“Sometimes, Tara Godfrey, you are way too willing to die.”
Chapter Thirteen
“In there.” Victoria pointed across the street.
I followed the track of her finger and stared. “Are you sure? The sign says it’s a meat factory.”
Victoria lifted a brow in answer.
“Makes sense to me,” George said.
“Ugh. Bad joke,” I said.
Wes punched him lightly in the shoulder.
They guys had been awfully chummy these last three days on the road. I’d tried more than once to get close and hear what sort of conversation needed to be hushed and private on a bus packed with five other people, but they always shut up when I came around. I’d even used George to eavesdrop unknowingly once when I sent him back to ask the boys what they wanted for dinner. But all I’d picked up was the word “metal” and “fatal” from Logan. I assumed Wes must be getting his advice on how best to kill whatever stood in our way upon arrival. Assuming that obstacle wasn’t someone from our own camp.
We’d yet to hear from Grandma. Or Jack and Fee. As far as I knew, they thought we were still in Colorado, locked up tight in an invisible house in the woods.
Cambria had called me with the bypass phrase: Vade Mecum. According to Logan, it meant “go with me” in Latin. The message of it—that Grandma never intended for me to leave that place without her—wasn’t lost on me.
Nor did it deter me.
We’d left that night. Logan, Victoria, and Astor all thought Grandma had been the one to supply the bypass phrase. George—and I suspected Wes though he hadn’t brought it up—knew the truth. Emma seemed like she didn’t care either way, as long as both George and I stayed close.
She was still jumpy, prone to periods of restlessness and pacing, although I wondered if that was her body’s way of coping with being human after holding onto her wolf form so long. She was quiet, and while she tolerated Astor’s questions, she lit up when George sought her out.
We’d taken shifts, alternating between sleeping and driving, and had only stopped for gas and food across five states. Despite the fact that we were all exhausted, we were happy to be here. And hoping like hell Victoria’s tracking skills were right.
I looked again at the building Victoria had pointed to. It was long and narrow with a flat roof. Nondescript except for the red-and-black sign that advertised it as headquarters to a packing and shipping plant for meat. I sniffed and let my wolf senses expand. Ugh. Raw cow to be exact.
And I knew one thing: if my pack was in there, I was getting them out.
“All right, let’s stash this thing somewhere and see if we can get closer,” I said.
Everyone stared at me.
“What?” I said.
Wes shook his head. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yeah …?”
“You want to what? Knock on the front door and ask to see your pack?”
“No, I …” I trailed off. Nothing I could’ve said would make me look anything other than reckless. “What’s your plan?”
Wes looked at Astor. “Him.”
“What about him?” I asked.
“He can knock on the front door and ask if the hybrids can play.”
I stared at him. “What? How does that help?”
“Because he can play crazy long enough to give us the time we need to get in.”
“He can play crazy longer than that,” George muttered.
“A distraction,” I said, deadpan. “You want Astor to be the distraction.”
“It beats dangling yourself out there where you know Steppe is watching.”
“Steppe knows Astor.”
“But he doesn’t know Astor knows you,” Georgepointed out.
“He knows we’re related,” I told him. “And that we’re on the run from him. He’s not an idiot.”
“I’m counting on that,” Wes interrupted. We both looked at him. “Steppe will know something’s up no matter what. At least with Astor, it takes a few minutes to sift through the crazy to get to the sane.”
I chewed my lip, hating the idea of putting my helpless, albeit crazy, uncle in harm’s way.
“He makes a point,” George said. I eyed him, realizing he hadn’t said it was a good point. “Why don’t we ask him? Astor,” he called before I could argue.
“What now?” Astor shuffled up to the front with a frown. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Wes said. “But I have a favor to ask.”
“What sort of favor?”
“That building over there,” Wes said, pointing, “is where Steppe is keeping the hybrids. We need you to create a diversion at the front so we can get in.”
“A diversion,” Astor repeated.
“Yes. Can you do that?”
“How big of a diversion?” he asked.
“Big.”
“Hmm.” He rubbed his palms on the front of his pants and rolled his neck side to side.
I took a step back for reasons I couldn’t name.
“You mean like this?” Before any of us could answer, he shifted.
I’d never seen anything like it. It wasn’t a complete change—more of a halfway-there-Wolfman-Jack-thing.
His form shimmered but not just at the edges. He shivered and shook all over, going in and out of focus. When he solidified, he still stood on two legs but they’d become knobby and hairy. His clothes were still on, stretched to the limits over his bulging arms and thighs. All I saw was coarse fur and gnarled ankles where his pants had ridden up. His arms were shorter and his fingers longer; nothing but massive knuckles and claws.
His face was the worst. Somehow, it retained its human-like appearance, complete with a mop of white hair on top, but his cheeks and chin were covered in fine hairs that thickened into a full beard on the lower half.
He looked like he’d stepped out of an ’80s horror flick.
“Arghhhhhhh!” he yelled, bending low to growl in George’s face.
George’s expression remained deadpan. When Astor finally quieted, George looked from Wes to me to Logan. “He’s like Teen Wolf meets Doc Brown from Back to the Future.”
“But did I scare you?” Astor asked.
“Um.”
It was all I could do not to laugh.
“How do you … I mean, you look so …” Victoria gestured to him. I could only imagine what sort of insult she had ready.
“Different,” I finished. We couldn’t afford to offend Astor right now. We needed him. I shot Victoria a look that would hopefully shut her up. “How do you do it?” I added.
“Years’ worth of practice,” he said proudly.
George eyed him skeptically. “So, you did it on purpose?”
“Absolutely. It’s the best of both. Two legs. Opposable thumbs. Scares the mess out of those damned Jehovah’s Witness bastards.”
Wes chuckled.
“So. What do you think?” Astor asked, his eyes alight. “I can try it again if you want.”
Astor’s chest puffed up as he sucked in another deep breath.
“It’ll work,” Wes said quickly. He patted Astor on the arm. “It’ll work.”
***
The only way to get Astor to shift back while we waited for nightfall was to take him for a Slurpee. He said it was the one thing he missed about civilization. I thought he might also have missed the memo on not wearing socks with sandals but I didn’t say so. I had my own agenda for passing the time.
George held the door for us all to file into the convenience store. I went last. He caught my arm before I could get past him. “I know what you’re thinking and it’s a bad idea,” he said.
I met his stare and yanked my arm away. “Those are the only kind I have.”
I wandered along the first aisle I came to. I didn’t really want anything and my concentration was on how to approach Wes with what I wanted. I’d already thought about sneaking off but rejected the idea. Even I knew better than to wander off alone in the DC metro area. This was Steppe’s territory. I had to be careful. Didn’t mean I couldn’t get what I wanted, as long as I could convince my boyfriend.
“He’s not going to go for it,” George said in my ear.
I jumped and swatted him but he danced out of reach. “Get out of my head,” I hissed.
I glanced at where the others were gathered around the frozen drink machines. Wes was helping Astor fit a lid on his cup. Victoria and Logan stood shoulder to shoulder, trying to decide on flavors. Emma—
“Where’s Emma?” I asked.
“Bathroom.”
“Oh.” I relaxed. What a great alpha. I couldn’t even lead a pack of one.
Wes finished with Astor and joined George and me by the window. He inspected the merchandise displayed and gave me a strange look. “Why are you looking at skullcaps?”
I stared blankly at where he pointed until I realized I stood in front of a large display of bandannas and neckerchiefs with an array of designs ranging from flames to skull-and-crossbones.
“Are we starting a biker gang and no one told me?” When I failed to react, his smile dimmed. He came closer, his nose almost touching mine. “What’s wrong?”
I caught myself twisting my hands together and let them fall to my sides. “Um, okay, so you know how Astor’s one request was that he be allowed to have a Slurpee?”
“Yeah.”
“Since, you know, it’d been so long since he’d had one.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And he really missed it and needed that before he could move forward with the plan.”
“Is this going somewhere?”
“And really, if he hadn’t gotten the Slurpee, who knows if he would’ve been able to focus on the plan later so—”
“You want to see Alex.”
“Bingo,” George called loudly. The cashier stared.
“Tara—” Wes began.
“George wants to see him too,” I blurted.
“I do?” Even George looked surprised. I resisted the urge to wrap my hands around his throat.
“Yes,” I said.
“How do you know?” Wes asked.
“I read it in his mind. A few days ago, when I first told you he woke up. You were mad at me for wanting to leave, remember?”
George’s head cocked sideways while he thought it over. “Huh. Okay, maybe the thought crossed my mind. But obviously not for the reasons you do,” he said. “I want answers.”
“So do I.”
Wes and George both rolled their eyes. I pretended not to notice.
“I’m not asking to go alone. And I’m not sneaking away or doing anything stupid. I’m asking for everyone to agree,” I said.
Victoria walked up. “Agree on what?” she asked around the straw in her mouth.
“Tara wants to go see Alex,” Wes told Victoria.
Astor and Emma joined us, both sucking their icy-sugary concoction from neon green straws.
“So does George,” I added.
Victoria shrugged. “Let’s go.”
“We can’t exactly walk into the hospital,” Wes said.
“Maybe you can’t,” she said. “I can go where I want.”
I stared at her. “She has a point.”
Wes sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “What are you thinking?”
“The simplest solution is often the best. My mother used to say that to me,” Victoria said.
“What does that mean?” George asked with Emma’s drink halfway to his lips.
“Well. Can he walk?” Victoria asked.
“Uh. Guys?” Emma cut in. “Should we maybe discuss this somewhere else?” She pointed to a flyer taped to the window behind me and we all turned to look.
“That’s a horrible picture of you,” George told Wes.
“Shut up,” Wes said. We all eyed the desk clerk, who was obliviously ringing up a customer for lottery tickets. Wes turned to Logan. “Give me your hat.”
“So you know, this is my favorite hat,” Logan said, reluctantly handing it over.
Wes took it and shoved it on his head. “If it gets ruined being on my head, we have bigger problems than your hat.”
***
The late afternoon sun slanted across the grass where it spilled over the corner of the hospital’s roof across the road. We couldn’t wait until daylight disappeared entirely. Darkness was for the hybrids. The rescue. According to George and Wes, this was nothing more than recon. And I suspected they didn’t much care if Alex got caught.
While we waited for Logan and Victoria to appear with the patient, we wandered the park across the street. The very public park. Emma and I had claimed an abandoned playground. Wes was not far behind us on a bench with George. The chasm had reopened between us, an old scab torn open again. It hadn’t been there since we’d left Virginia. And Alex.
I climbed onto the monkey bars and sat atop them, letting my feet dangle loosely below. Emma followed at my heels, quiet inside and out.
“What are you thinking about?” I asked her.
She looked up at me, startled. “You don’t know?”
I smiled. “I’d like to hear you talk.”
“Oh. Um.” She picked at the ends of her hair and looked away. I’d given up on her answering at all when she finally said, “You and George used to date, huh?”
“Yes,” I said. “Why?”
A couple of dog walkers passed by, their smiles polite and small, but otherwise we barely got a second look. Even Astor, walking slow circles around our mulch enclosure while he whispered to himself, drew hardly any attention. Maybe it was because of the crowd.
The best place to hide is plain sight.
Where had that come from? I found George sitting on a bench, listening to Wes, but he was watching Emma. And his thoughts were centered completely on her.
“Well,” Emma said, bringing me out of my thoughts. The way she drew out the word, I didn’t need a bond to tell me where this was going. “Would it be weird if— I mean, I know you guys used to be, you know …”
I couldn’t take the stumbling or stuttering any longer. I reached out and put my hand on her knee. She smiled sheepishly, her cheeks reddening.
“Em, George and I are just friends. And as long as he doesn’t keep eavesdropping on this conversation …” I paused and sent George a pointed look. He ducked his head and went back to talking to Wes. “We will remain friends. But that’s it for both of us, trust me.”
“Really? Because if you’re not sure or if it’s weird …”
“It’s not weird,” I said firmly. “And I can tell he likes you so stop worrying.”
She smiled, transforming her face from shy and quiet to radiant. “You think so? I mean, did you, you know, read that?”
I laughed. “You’ve both got it bad. Trust me, mutually bad. Go talk to him.”
She glanced over her shoulder where Wes and George still huddled on the bench. “Now?”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. There’s all this stuff going on. Dangerous rescue missions and sneaky meetings in the park. Maybe I should wait for when things are calmer.”
“Sweetheart. I can promise if you stick with me, things will never be calmer. And we aren’t promised tomorrow. You should tell him now. In the present. Live this moment.”
Her eyes clouded with unshed tears and I realized too late what my words had done. We shared a mental image of Janie between us before it faded away again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean …”
“It’s okay,” she said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. “You’re right. We aren’t promised tomorrow. I need to seize the day and all that.” She sniffed once. “Janie was better at this sort of thing than me.”
“What?”
“Spontaneous decisions. Proclamations of love.”
I smiled. “She would tell you to do it.”
Emma nodded.
“I think that means you have to.”
I watched as George rose from the bench and made his way toward us. He didn’t pay me a single bit of attention. His eyes were so fixed on Emma, he almost tripped over the wood-trimmed border. Emma giggled.
“Hey,” George said.
“Hey,” Emma said.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m going to talk to Wes.” I don’t think either one heard me.
Astor stopped me before I could reach the bench. “You know she’ll have your hide for this.”
“What? Who?” I looked back at Emma, but she was intent on whatever George was saying.
Astor wagged his finger in my face. “You know exactly. Edie, that’s who.”
The entire trip, I’d waited for him to press me about Grandma’s willingness to let us leave, but he hadn’t said a single word about it. Until now. “Astor. Do you know something I don’t know?”
“I know lots of things. Like the fact that your boyfriend over there is afraid to be tested, afraid he won’t be like you. And he isn’t.”
“Isn’t what?”
“Like you.”
“He’s not immune? How do you know?”
He shrugged again and tilted his head as if he couldn’t care less.
“What else do you know, Astor?”
“Your jock-friend is better at this than you are.”
“Better at what?”
He walked away, resuming his circle around the playground. I moved to follow, determined to make him tell me what he meant, but Wes called my name.
“Tara. They’re here.” His voice was nothing more than a raised whisper, but it sent a flood of nerves through me and I had to force my muscles to work.
I turned around slowly.
The sun dipped completely behind the hospital, casting the three bodies into full shadow. They were nothing more than silhouettes as they stepped off the crosswalk and entered the park. But I didn’t need to see faces or even hear their voices to know which one was Alex. I recognized him by the way he moved.
